OSG & VPB Build Environment in Windows as Step-By-Step Tutorial

This HowTo shows one solution to create a good working OSG build environment on a windows operating system.

Prerequisites

• Install CMAKE from ​http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html
• Download OSG sources
• Download prebuild 3rdParty libraries from ​http://www.openscenegraph.org/projects/osg/wiki/Downloads/Dependencies . Attention: Use the right version for your compiler, the wrong version can cause unpredictable linking and runtime errors!
• Download the example data from ​http://www.osgvisual.org/projects/osgvisual/wiki/Downloads

Directory structure

The directory structure will be explaned on an example installation on drive D: :

Directory	Content	Source
D:\OpenSceneGraph	Root folder of the OSG framework	-
D:\OpenSceneGraph\3rdParty	Folder containing the 3rdParty libraries in the subfolders x86 and x64	Download from ​http://www.osgvisual.org/projects/osgvisual/wiki/Downloads
D:\OpenSceneGraph\Data	Models and pictures for the OSG examples	​http://www.osgvisual.org/projects/osgvisual/wiki/Downloads
D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x86	Folder containing the real osg framework compiled as 32 bit with its subfolders (bin lib include etc.)	Download newest version vom SVN trunk
D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x64	Folder containing the real osg framework compiled as 64 bit with its subfolders (bin lib include etc.)	Download newest version vom SVN trunk
D:\OpenSceneGraph\VirtualPlanetBuilder	Folder for the VirtualPlanetBuilder installation.	Download newest version from SVN trunk

Setting Environment variables

The following enviroment variables are required:

Env Variable	Content	Explanation
OSG	%OSG_ROOT%\bin;D:\OpenSceneGraph\3rdParty_x86_x64\x86\bin\;	Binary files of OSG and the 3rdparty
OSG_X64	%OSG_ROOT_X64%\bin;D:\OpenSceneGraph\3rdParty_x86_x64\x64\bin\;	Binary files of OSG and the 3rdparty in 64 bit
OSG_FILE_PATH	D:\OpenSceneGraph\Data;D:\OpenSceneGraph\Data\Images	Path to the example data files
OSG_NOTIFY_LEVEL	WARN	Notify level for the console output
OSG_ROOT	D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x86	Root folder of the 32 bit OSG build
OSG_ROOT_X64	D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x64	Root folder of the 64 bit OSG build
PATH	%PATH%;%OSG%;OSG_X64	extend the PATH with the OSG binary pathes to start osg from konsole. Add both architectures, but at first the one you want to use for in-source debugging.

[optional ] compile GDAL

It is possible to use the prebuild GDAL binaries from ​http://www.osgvisual.org/projects/osgvisual/wiki/Downloads

• Download GDAL SDK-Package (bottom of the page) from ​http://vbkto.dyndns.org/sdk/
• Open in VS2008 SP1 and compile.
• Create new gdal directory structure

  gdal-1.7.x
   - bin
   - include
   - data
   - lib
  

• If you have compiled successfully, populate this directories:

data	Content from SDK-Package/<GDAL>/data
include	All includes files from SDK-Package/<GDAL> -- cpl_config.h will reside in different folders with different size, use the bigger one.
bin	Copy all .exe and.dll into this directory
lib	Copy gdal_i.lib into this directory

• Delete your downloaded SDK to avoid that cmake will found this folder instead your build.

Compile OSG

The steps to build OSG are:

• Start CMAKE and select source code
  • Sourcecode Folder: e.g. D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x86
  • Build Binaries Folder: e.g. D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x86
• Select the following options:
  • ACTUAL_3RDPARTY_DIR D:\OpenSceneGraph\3rdParty\x86
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x86
  • BUILD_MFC_EXAMPLES On the architecture you want to use for in source debugging, use false, for the other true. (This option only appeares after setting BUILD_OSG_EXAMPLE true and configure at least one time)
• Press Configure. On errors, correct them
• Press Generate -> MS Visual Studio Solution will be created
• Enter D:\OpenSceneGraph\OpenSceneGraph-2.9.16_x86 and open OpenSceneGraph.sln
• Run BUILD_ALL as Debug Build as well as Release Build (On error retry building several times without cleaning up. Sometimes only the wrong order of the dependencies is the reason)

In my setup, I use the 32 bit build to debug my application in the OSG source. Therefore I have to add my MSVC project to the OpenSceneGraph VS Solution. To reduce the complexity in the MSVC solution, I do not build the OSG examples in the x86 build. To make all examples (x64) available in the console, I add %OSG_X64% after %OSG% to the PATH variable.

Finished! :)

Troubleshooting & Tips

• If you have problems with linking against wldap32.lib, read ​this article.